Cai Guo-Qiang

Something historic and explosive happened at the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda at the Guggenheim in New York. Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibit, I Want to Believe, marks the first solo show that features a Chinese-born artist (Specifier Magazine). Cai’s exhibit features sketches that utilize gunpowder, as well as, nine cars hanging from the rotunda to simulate a car bombing.Click here for a full article about the exhibit from Australian design and architecture magazine Specifier. The article goes on to state that “‘I Want To Believe’ is positively littered with allusions to mythology and folklore, medicinal powers, nuclear apocalypse, UFOs, The Big Bang and Dark Matter.” The Guggenheim exhibit features works throughout Cai’s life as an artist. Pictured below is his self-portrait, Self Portrai: A Subjugated Soul in gunpowder.

Also, you can see a video of how Inopportune: Stage One came to be. I watched the video and their upbeat tempo seemed odd as this particular piece represents the stages of a car bombing. One of the curators does say that this particular exhibit has both violence and beauty, but I guess I would have liked to hear Cai’s perspective. Does the end of the video’s upbeat tone strike anyone else as odd? I guess I thought the video would have more of a serious over tone or feature Cai a bit more.

Finally, if you don’t have plans to get to New York before the end of May (when the exhibit closes), you can view an online tutorial here (click on “view online exhibition” at the top of the toolbar).

For those of you in New York, or those that have seen the exhibit, what do you think? How did the exhibit affect you?

One response to “Cai Guo-Qiang”

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